Capstone – Project
What are the best ways to grow the Swoondle member base
A Collaboration Between
Current State:
- Member Growth has been in small increments from Social Media ads and word-of-mouth. While this works it can be an expensive approach and needs to gain a lot of momentum for the cost/benefit to pan out.
- Several small “influencer” tests on IG/Blog have not proven successful
- Post card “leave behind/coupon” and Direct Mail inserts haven’t had great take up
Most successful have been:
- video content on social
- person-to-person explain and sign up (word of mouth, expos)
- Inclusion in “guide-type” online content “What do to with your kids clothes”
We are looking to expand our marketing efforts, including social media and beyond. We want to explore ways to target highly engaged “mom networks” that already exist and figure out the best way to target, engage, and convert members.
Project Topics
Growth Strategy
Marketing
PR & Communications
Company Information
| Company | Swoondle |
| HQ | New York |
| Revenue | Unlisted |
| Employees | 5-10 |
| Stage | Established Startup |
| Hiring Potential | Follow-on Projects, Formal Internship, Entry Level Full-Time, Upper Level Full-Time |
| Website | https://www.swoondlesociety.com/ |
Company Overview
It has always been The Swoondle Society’s mission to create an easy, hassle-free and fun marketplace for parents to trade their children’s clothing. Our hope is that The Swoondle Society will encourage our members to buy fewer, high-quality goods by giving them the opportunity to continuously trade for “new-to-you” items in the right sizes, seasons and genders. By giving clothing a “greater life,” we’re also doing better for the Earth - fewer textiles ending up in landfills. We hope you will enjoy “shopping” on Swoondle for all your children’s clothing needs, while spending less and doing it from the comfort of home.
Experiential Learning Program Details
| School | Long Island University C.W. Post (LIU Post) |
| Engagement Format | Capstone - Small Team Consulting Project - Students work in consulting teams of 3-5 directly with faculty and client liaisons on developing real solutions to real-world challenges. |
| Course | |
| Level | N/A |
| Students Enrolled | N/A |
| Meeting Day & Time | N/A |
| Student Time Commitment | 8-15 Hours Per Week |
| Company Time Commitment | 2 Hours |
| Duration | 13.14 Weeks |
Program Timeline
| Touchpoints & Assignments | Due Date | Type |
|---|
Key Project Milestones
-
September 13, 2019 - Understanding the business, market, competition and current state
Gain understanding of how Swoondle works and it’s unique place in the market.
Suggested Deliverable:
- Interviews with Jen, CEO to understand the business
- Explore website – ideally come back with pro/con feedback
- Explore competition and build a “grid” – similarities/differences
- 1-2page synopsis of market size & trends (children’s clothing, second-hand, households with children under 13, by income, circular fashion trends, clothing waste, owning less, buying less… )
-
October 4, 2019 - Market Research
Understand current customer motivationsUnderstand what might motivate non-members
Suggested Deliverable:
- Conduct an online survey to existing members:
- biggest motivations for membership
- how has Swoondle helped/changed your shopping habits
- Would you recommend
- ?how to make them into advocates
- Conduct interviews/focus group with non-member, target audience
- What would motivate them to want to Swoondle
- What are the hesitations
- …
- Conduct an online survey to existing members:
-
October 18, 2019 - Test Development
Coming out of the market research, what are some ways we can convert more customers in a broad, but personal way.
- How to turn current customers into advocates
- How to reach & convert new customers into members
Suggested Deliverable:
- Brainstorm ‘monster’ list of ideas
- Evaluate list based on costs, potential to scale and originality
- (we’ve done a bunch of stuff – so really want to focus on – low CAC and high person-to-person, low static imagery…)
- Provide a short list of 1-3 tests for each audience (current/non-member)
-
November 1, 2019 - Test Execution
launch Pilot 1-2 of the agreed upon tests.
Suggested Deliverable:
Tests/Pilot launched –
- careful monitoring of effectiveness and results.
- ensure knowledge of success criteria and ability to track
- high focus on CAC and lessons learned
-
December 6, 2019 - Recommendations & Synopsis
Compile test results, data, lessons learned and recommendations for going forward
Suggested Deliverable:
- simple deck/presentation summarizing what was learned:
- overall market – how swoondle fits
- Swoondle customers – current
- Non-member//potential customers
- What tests were recommended & executed
- Results
- Recommendations for next steps, tests, etc…
- simple deck/presentation summarizing what was learned:
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